Direct train services between Liverpool and Scotland are to begin by the end of the year, it's been revealed.
By December, TransPennine Express passengers will be able to get from Lime Street Station all the way to Glasgow, with the new line to start with a three-trains-a-day service.
That will mean customers travelling between Merseyside and Scotland no longer need to change at Wigan or Preston.
At a Westminster Social Policy Forum event taking place in Liverpool city centre on Friday, Carew Satchwell, acting head of strategic planning on Network Rail's London North Western Route, said those services will begin in December.
A TransPennine spokeswoman later said there was no "confirmed launch date" - but that the new service will begin by the end of this year.
Mr Satchwell told the event at the Holiday Inn: "TransPennine Express is introducing new services between Liverpool and Glasgow in December. That's just going to be three services a day, but that's at least a start.
"We spent £140m upgrading Lime Street last year . We have remodelled it, we've got new platforms, lengthened platforms and upgraded signalling, but the key issue is capacity - how do we get more people around?"
On Friday, a TransPennine Express spokeswoman said: "We are really looking forward to launching this new service later this year which will connect these two great cities together.
"We do not have a confirmed launch date but we will let people know as soon as we do."
At the social policy event in Liverpool on Friday, Mr Satchwell said other initiatives to tackle the issue included new services from Wrexham and Chester to Lime Street , announced recently as part of the Halton Curve line reopening .
Those services, announced last month, will run seven days a week, with future plans set to see even more trains connecting the two regions - possibly to Cardiff via Shrewsbury, and to Llandudno.
Mr Satchwell added: "If we want to get people to large centres of employment, leisure and build economic added value, then rail is a good way of doing it."
The news comes despite reports earlier this year that the Liverpool-Glasgow line had been "shelved".
In March, a spokesperson for TransPennine Express told the Independent : “We are fully committed to bringing in a new direct service between Liverpool and Glasgow as soon as we can in during autumn 2019.
“It is a disappointing delay, but it is the right decision to make and once the service launches, it will certainly be worth the wait."
